We LOVE pizza!! It doesn’t matter how it is made, homemade or from a pizza place…we love it. Once upon a time we ate it every week, on the same day, from the same place. Unfortunately, or maybe its for the best, but our job’s hours and health outlooks have changed that. Now it is more of a treat than a standby. Now I am more apt to have some whole wheat crust in the freezer ready to go; my recipe makes 2 doughs so if we don’t use both the other one goes in the freezer after rising.

We started with our basic homemade pizza which is usually either plain cheese or with pepperoni. The original crust was all purpose flour, not whole wheat and I have to admit, pretty good. Just not as healthy as it could be. It was overloaded with cheese and the pepperoni….just dripped with grease (yummm!).

We them switched to a whole wheat crust but that got a little bit dry in the crust and didn’t want to “fold”. Our current ratio is now 2.5 cups whole wheat flour and 1.5 cups all purpose flour. It is soft and pliable and a bit more healthy. We cut back some on the cheese and then microwaved the pepperoni to eliminate a lot of the fat. OK, we are getting better at being a healthier option!

On occasion I can get my hubby to go for a vegetable pie but he prefers adding meat (pepperoni or sausage) to it. I like the added vegetables and he can deal with the overall picture.

Loaded with veges…..

or a “Sausage and Pepper” pie, its still an improvement over our heavier versions!

Enter the challenge: my daughter has become a vegetarian and is really watching what she eats. We found a vegetarian recipe in a Cooking Light cookbook and started with that. We did adjust it to our taste and preference and I think we’ve gotten a pretty decent pizza option: Deep Dish Pizza with Roasted Vegetables. Both my older daughter and I will eat this one while my hubby and younger daughter will share the modified/lightened traditional one. We are all eating together which is what matters and we are eating healthier–its the best of all worlds!